Canada Broached Idea For Job Before Deaver Left White House

May 11, 1986|The New York Times

WASHINGTON -- While Michael K. Deaver was still a senior White House aide but after he had announced his intention to set up a lobbying business, a Canadian official told him that the government of Canada could use a man of his talents.

The information was conveyed in a letter Friday from Allan E. Gotlieb, the Canadian ambassador to the United States, to Rep. John D. Dingell, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The letter, which did not identify the Canadian official, was Ottawa`s first acknowledgment that the idea of Deaver`s working for Canada had been broached while he was still a White House official. The contact was made in March 1985, two months before Deaver left the White House.

But Gotlieb emphasized his belief that the remark to Deaver was ``light- hearted`` and did not constitute an offer or proposal. In May 1985, two weeks after Deaver left the White House, he and the Canadians had formal discussions that led to a $105,000 lobbying contract, Gotlieb said.

Gotlieb`s letter was the latest in a series he has written to Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, and he has stressed that, under the rules of diplomacy, his government was not required to comply with the requests for information.

He minimized the importance of the contact between the Canadian official and Deaver. ``At a time considerably after Mr. Deaver announced that he was leaving the White House, an official in Canada did make a light-hearted conversational remark to Mr. Deaver to the effect that the U.S. was indeed fortunate to have a person of Mr. Deaver`s talents on its team, and how much we could use a good man like that,`` Gotlieb wrote.

A subcommittee headed by Dingell has been seeking to determine whether Deaver lined up Canada as a client while he still served in the White House, and whether Deaver subsequently lobbied in connection with an issue in which he had been ``substantially and personally involved`` while in office, which would be a violation of conflict-of-interest laws.

Deaver will testify before a closed session of the panel on Friday. A spokesman has said repeatedly that until then Deaver will not comment on any allegations, including those involving his role in moving the United States toward an agreement with Canada on acid rain before he left the White House.